When We Meet Again
by crazytomboy78
Summary: Pepper Potts has changed a lot over 4 years since her graduation and break up with the Millionaire Tony Stark. How will things go when two old friends reunite under the most peculiar circumstances and he has changed a lot? ADOPTED BY crazytomboy78
1. Prolouge

Prologue

It was three weeks until their last ever high school exams. It was a month to their graduation ceremony. It was a month for the infamous trio to hang around together. It won't be until four years for them to reunite again.

The trio once again was mucking around in Tony's secret lab beneath the old warehouse. All three of them were fervently discussing their future after graduation.

"Well, mines all planned out," Anthony 'Tony' Edward Stark stated with ease while stretching out his long denim clad legs and putting his feet on a nearby stool. "I'm gonna finally formally take over Stark International, fire Stane and continue on from where Dad left."

"Hey what about me?" cried out Virginia 'Pepper' Potts. She was sitting on a tall, wooden stool by the table and her legs dangling underneath. The table was covered with various course guides from various universities around America, though the largest pamphlet was the S.H.I.E.L.D application.

Then the young genius stood up and wrapped his lean arms around the red head, brought his lips to hers and snuck a quick kiss. He then whispered in her ears, "How could I ever forget you Miss Potts?"

"Ewww can you guys cut it out. It's gross! It's been disgusting ever since you two started dating at the beginning of the year," complained the African-American boy James 'Rhodey' Rhodes. He on the other hand was fixated on joining the military, just like his father. Pepper and Tony ignored him and continued on with their conversation.

"Who knows? Your head is always half buried in a pile of metal and your Ironman suit," said Pepper.

Tony laughed, "You can always work for me. I'm way cooler than S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Nahhh, I wanna jet pack. Working for you doesn't get me a jet pack!"

"You know I will be the CEO of a _technology _company, I could just invent one."

"True, but I want to arrest people too."

"Then why are you looking at courses in nanotechnology and law then?" Tony asked, while pointing out the several course guides from MIT and Yale that were opened to pages relating to science and law.

"Yeah I was wondering about that too. Why are you looking at them?" enquired Rhodey.

"Law is necessary to arrest people you know. And for the sciency half, I got interested after the monster Technovore business. Nanotech stuff seems interesting. Don't you think Tony?" she smiled.

"It's pretty cool, nanotechnology, but arc reactor related physics is way more awesome."

Afterwards Pepper and Tony got into another heated debate. This time which science was better, in the end it was a stalemate they patched things up by flirting around again while Rhodey left the lab complaining about being surrounded by science nerds and love birds.

One week until graduation

Pepper entered her home and put her bag by the shelf. She made her way to the kitchen so she could get something to snack on. Exams were hard work and she needed an energy boost before she made her way to the Rhode's homestead.

When she entered the kitchen she saw her dad at the kitchen table. All of a sudden she felt nervous, it was the first time that she arrived home with her dad here before she was or at the least very awake.

"Hi Pepper, finally home aye? How were your exams?" he asked.

"They were ok, hard but not that hard." Pepper peered over her Dad's shoulders and on the kitchen table were brochures of England and other various things, like insurance and stuff. Why doesn't he look on the internet? She thought.

"That's good. Do you think you're gonna pass well?"

Pepper thought about it for a moment and then said with a slight grin, "Actually to be honest I think I will ace it, if I must say so myself."

"Cool, cause I have some news for you," he replied and suddenly it looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and a weariness she never saw except the time he was attacked by Whiplash. Pepper stayed silent and waited for him to continue. "Pepper, I would like us to move to England," he announce with a calm yet cautious voice, "It will be really nice there, a new life and you could go to Oxford or Cambridge if your marks are good," he quickly rushed and then in a controlled tone, "And it would be safer too. I've got news from the Bureau and CIA that Mr. Fix is on the move again and this time he is getting more extreme and bizarre. He has already attempted to hack into NASA and S.H.I.E.L.D, and the government has a plan to relocate us and other people that appear to be in danger from him."

Pepper was stunned; her mouth was slightly opened like a fish out of water. She knew about the Mr. Fix attacks from her daily hacking of the FBI system, but she didn't know that it would extreme enough to relocate people related to various incidences involving him. And simply put Pepper didn't want to move to England. She knew it was a nice place but what about her future career in S.H.I.E.L.D, Team Iron man and most of all Tony, whom she knew would probably do anything sane or stupid to fix up (**no pun intended**) and thus protect her. But her Dad didn't know the superhero side of Tony, the awesome and supercool side and any other argument would at least earn her a grounding and a long lecture about the government protecting them. She remembered the year after her mother died Pepper went out shopping with her dad and got lost in the mall and ever since he very overprotective of her.

"Bbbbut what about my life here? …Tony?" she stuttered in response.

"That is for you to decide, but we will go to England Pepper, it's for you own safety," reaffirmed her father, his eyes locking directly into hers.

"Yes Dad," she finished off and went into her room to sit on her bed in silence.

Pepper looked around her room, a room she has been in for as long as she could remember. She was so deep in thought she did not realize that tears were rolling down her face until her phone rang as she got a text message.

The red head flipped open her phone and saw that is was from Tony.

_Rn't u coming over tonite? :I R u ok Pepper?_

_Love Tony_

Pepper had been so deep in thought she also forgot to visit the Rhode Family home. It was where Tony lived until he graduated at the end of this week. She then deftly texted back:

_Sorry, I was busy. Y don't we meet at the park in 15 mins instead, I hav something to tell u?_

_Kisses Pepper_

Tony was at the playground sitting on the swing staring at his trusty, red sneakers. The rubber sole were slick with dew along with hem of his jeans that were damp too. He looked up and saw Pepper walking towards him with her head down, highlighting her red hair in the moonlight, like a fire. The boy millionaire stood up to greet his girlfriend but somewhere in his gut he felt whatever lead her to meet him at the playground was not good, instead he tried to pushed those feelings of doubt out of his mind.

In those few seconds Pepper began to freak out because she watched Tony's expression change from placid and content to concerned and then happy again. She felt as if Tony knew what she was going to do to him tonight. A knot was starting to form in her stomach.

"Hi Pepper, how's life?"asked Tony while he embraced Pepper and tried to kiss her but she turned her head and instead he only kissed her cheek. It has been a long time since Tony last kissed her cheek but that when they both started dating.

Tony felt a little off, "Is there something wrong?" he asked in concern and then realized that there was a single tear running down her face.

"Uh I I am mmmoving to Eng England," Pepper stammered.

Relief coursed through Tony, "Is that all? You don't need to worry then. I could visit you when I have free time in between running Stark International, there is a reason why I own a private plane," he grinned. "But why are you going to England? What happened to MIT, Yale or S.H.I.E.L.D?" Tony asked curiously while his blue eyes reflected the twinkles from the few stars of the New York sky.

Pepper bit her lip, worrying about Tony's reaction. "Mr. Fix is on the move again, and the US government decided to send us, which I mean my Dad and me, and other people threatened by him out of the country. They'll also give us new identities."

Tony's eyes widened in surprise and then opened his mouth to say something but Pepper interrupted,

"Don't you think about suiting up in the Ironman suit. Fix could be anywhere, but according to Dad the CIA are sure that he is within the country."

Tony again attempted to interrupt her but the Queen of Speedy Talking butted in, "No, Tony I don't care, whatever normal or bizarre reason you may have to stop me from moving is unimportant compared to you finishing high school, getting that graduation certificate and taking over Stark International. Ok."And this was said in on one breath, but Tony being her boyfriend understood every word.

"But what about you?" he asked and the even more softly, "What about us?"

Pepper let out a sigh, a sigh that meant bad news is coming up.

"The reason why I asked you out here to the park instead of usually meeting up with you and Rhodey at the warehouse is is is…"

Tony stared apprehensively, "Is what?" his stomach was twisting itself into a knot.

"Is Tony, I think we should break up."

The young Stark was stunned beyond belief. He thought his life was close to perfect until now. Those six words just shattered his almost perfect life.

"Whhat?" Tony stuttered with his blue eyes opened wide in disbelief.

Pepper looked away trying to convince herself that this was the right choice. She was so sure of herself a few seconds ago, heck she even practiced what she was going to say even though it was halfheartedly, yet but she didn't plain on seeing Tony like this. This wasn't what she prepared herself for. She took another deep breath.

"We should break up Tony," Pepper stated and before he could interrupt, "Like I said you have the world at your feet, while I'm just a girl just aspiring to find my place and as of the moment probably somewhere in England. I love you, but knowing you, you'll be trying to taking this whole mess onto yourself, letting it become your burden. I know Team Ironman is all about defeating the bad guys but only this time let the government do their job and you do yours. That is you achieve your dream by taking back your company and I don't want to be the reason that your dreams shattered." Pepper explained with tears flowing down her face.

"But Pepper," Tony pleaded, "You breaking up with me is dream shattering."

"I don't know about that. But I think it's time for us to go our separate ways. But promise me we'll still be friends and that you won't go as Ironman to find Fix ok."

"I don't think I can do that," he uttered.

"Don't worry cause I know you will." Pepper then stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheeks while the tears continued flowing. "I'm sorry Tony. From now on I'm Patricia Parks."

Pepper, well now called Patricia turned on her heel and walked back towards the same direction in which she came from. Meanwhile, Tony stood alone at the park crying softly beneath the stars knowing that he can't run after her for she made her choice.

**I've taken over! Ahh! Adopted story on top of who knows how many others I'm still on. Haha I just never stop do I (: anyways, hopefully now that I have more time I'll be updating more often! Woot :D review!**


	2. Four Years Later

**Chapter One**

Pepper Potts swung her leg around swiftly and placed a nice round house kick into the stomach of her opponent. Her opponent then went conveniently flying across the well padded mat and landed hardly onto the floor groaning and clutching his abdomen.

"Ok gentlemen…and lady, training is over for today. We're gonna kick those Cambridge guys' asses over the moon at the next tournament," announced the president of the martial arts club Dean Flannigan, which was met with an enormous amount of enthusiastic cheering from its members.

"Well aren't we enthusiastic? But remember I'm not gonna be able to make it as I have a speech to make for Science week," said Pepper in a neutral tone.

"Geez Patricia, relax a little. Too bad you can't make it; you make a great asset for the team," complimented Dean with a suggestive tone.

"Well yeah, I'm busy."

"C'mon Patricia," he whined, "You're so busy, stop being such a nerd with all those extra classes you take. Live a little. Hey what about this? I'll take you out on a dat-."

Pepper quickly cut in before he finished, "I told you Dean, I don't date, education first, love life later. That's my motto," she said with a slight smile and walked out of the gym with her sports bag on her shoulder.

"To bad buddy, that girl is unattainable and has been for the past three and a half years. Rejects every guy who asks her out," consoled one of the Dean's friends.

"Well at least I tried. I mean that figure of hers is killer."

"Mmmhhmm," agreed most of the team.

"Yep, all of the curves in the right place, cute freckles, nice smile, funny personality and exotic, long red hair. Are all girls from the States like that?" added another member.

"I donno, but I see what you've been doing during training."

"Well yeah but who hasn't?"

The others just nodded in agreement and continued packing the equipment.

Afterwards Pepper was in her advanced science tutorial half paying attention to what the lecturer was talking about and the other half reminiscing about all the previous guys who asked her out. This included Dean but not one particular person back in New York. She shook her head to remind herself that he had his own life and that her name is no longer Pepper Potts but Patricia Parks until the Mr. Fix fiasco has been dealt with. She looked up to analyse the image displayed on the screen. The picture depicted insect like robot and a diagram of a sphere, the new generation of nanotechnology. Around her were several other students. All geniuses in their own right and most of them unlike her seemed to be the kind that were born with the smarts and did not work their asses off since junior year to get into college. Well actually University as it is called in England.

It has been nearly four years since Pepper has thought of Oxford as a college, even her best friend and dorm buddy Jade thinks the British-ness has rubbed onto her and wearing off her American-ness. However, many people including her roommate didn't even know her real name; instead they knew her as Patricia Parks the high achieving exchange student from New York. Pepper finished her Bachelor of Commerce seven months ago and declined the offer to continue with her Honours, yet she received a high distinction for the Bachelor anyway. She was also an honorary member to the Linguist Club of Oxford in which she stumbled upon three and a half years ago while trying to find an empty room in the library, and now is relatively fluent in French, Italian and Japanese. The only female member in the local martial arts club in the University and finally is the one of the few students in the advanced classes for robotics majoring in nanotechnology.

Pepper would've stayed within her thoughts if it weren't for her professor waking her up with, "Miss Parks, I just asked you a question."

"Sorry Professor, could you please repeat the question again?" replied Pepper quickly.

"The question was Miss Parks, what could be a possible way for nano-particles to navigate their way to various body parts?"

"Ummm scientists could program the nano-particles to navigate their way around the body by detecting the heat produced from organs or hormones," she answered nervously.

"That is a good response Miss Parks but I rather you pay attention in class that have your head in the clouds," criticized the professor and a few of the class snickered. Pepper looked at her notes in embarrassment.

Few hours later Pepper made her way back to her 'dorm'. It wasn't exactly a dormitory but more like an apartment attached to a larger joint of the same design (six bedrooms, kitchen and other necessities). Pepper went up the stairs greeting other students who lived in similarly furbished apartments/dorms attached to the same building. When she reached the door and began fumbling for her keys the door was opened by her best friend Jade.

"Yo Patricia. Home on time for once," Jade managed to enunciate while brushing her teeth.

"Yeah, miracle ain't it?" She laughed and walked in, "So I guess you're brushing your teeth," Pepper quickly glanced at the clock on the wall, "at 6.30 at night…right?"

"Yeah lol." Jade went to put the toothbrush back into the bathroom.

"I cannot believe you just said. That is so lame. Can't people actually laugh out loud these days?"Pepper mockingly complained.

"There's a party at Darcy's in like in thirty minutes. You should come, the others already left," Jade pointed out to their abnormally neat apartment and the other empty bedrooms empty. "Yeah so, take a shower, put some party clothes on and we'll go. You need mingle; find yourself a boyfriend or something."

"I can't I have the science week to help organize, you go off and have fun at _Darcy's_" Pepper emphasized, "You know Jade, no offence I think Darcy swings towards the more packaged sex of human race, so you should give up."

"But you hardly ever go out. It's always thesis this, organize that. Hey Samantha is a med student and I'm majoring history and we like to have a bit of fun. You should too. And yeah I know Darcy's gay, but he's still fun to flirt with. C'mon Patty, you should come. It'll be fun."

"Hey it's Patricia not Patty that makes me sound old. Maybe next time but I got more important things to do."

"Whatever, your call. I'm gonna have some fun, see ya." Jade exited the apartment, leaving Pepper alone.

Pepper got changed into her pjays, got some food to eat from the fridge and settled herself in front of the TV with all her textbooks. Naturally being in front of the TV one does not manage to concentrate and gets distracted instead. Pepper ended up flipping through the channels in search of something to watch. Honestly Pepper felt like she was being an idiot and loner but truthfully she isn't really a party kind of girl, well at least not the ones they throw at Darcy's. However, there was a small part of brain that told her to go the party but it felt wrong to become to close with anyone if that person didn't even know her real name. It made her feel like a liar. Then another celebrity program began on the TV. Pepper recognized it as another show from the States. The hostess was another glitzy, dumb blonde called Elle Armadale.

"Hi I'm Elle Armadale and tonight Celebz has exclusive access to New York, A Wonderful City premier after party, studded by all of Hollywood's greatest stars."

Elle entered the building guarded by several security guards and began interviewing celebrities and such. Pepper was about to change the channel until Armadale began interviewing another person who was not an actor or singer or even an entertainer of any sort.

"Oh my god, it's Tony Stark, CEO of Stark International. Hi Tony what brings you to the party?" the hostess said with a suggestive tone and batting her eyelashes extra fast.

Tony Stark had finally reached his full height in the past 3 and a half years, he was now at least 6 feet tall, yet nonetheless his hair was spikier as ever and eyes just as mesmerizing. Furthermore Tony Stark looked more mature, his jaw more defined and underneath his white shirt was a subtle hint and well toned muscle. Tony chuckled at Elle, "It's good to be seen you know….and I guess you're Elle from MTV's Celebz right?"

"Sure is Mr. Stark," she replied, flirting with Tony in front of millions of viewers, "So what did you think of New York, A Wonderful City?"

"It was an excellent film; I really enjoyed it but sorry Elle I have to go I need to find Maria."

The hostess looked a bit put off but regained her posture quickly, "When you say Maria, do you mean Maria Stone, the supporting actress of the film and new budding starlet of Hollywood."

"Yeah Maria Stone Elle, she asked me to be her date for the after party."

"So does that mean that both of you are officially going out?" Elle asked curiously.

"No we are not, strictly friends at the moment. Oh I see her, gotta go. Bye Elle." Tony waved and smiled his famous crooked smile towards the camera.

Pepper abruptly turned off the TV and decided to go to bed. But it took a while for her to go to sleep as she had that small clip of Tony and Elle replaying in her head. She was glad yet a little sad that he had moved on and kept their promise in at least one aspect. However, she was angry that he hadn't attempted to contact her ever since. In the beginning Pepper sent an email at least once a week but the only time he replied was the time Pepper started university and that was about it. At least Rhodey emails once in a blue moon and often his mentioned a bit about Tony. Soon Pepper was sleeping peacefully.

On the other side of the world the CEO of Stark International who goes by the name Tony Stark was sitting rather comfortably in his Italian leather armchair behind his huge, mahogany desk. He was half paying attention to the girl on the side of the desk. The girl's name was Amelia Rug, she appeared more like a playboy bunny, which Tony Stark honestly didn't mind if it weren't for her stupidity and annoying behaviour.

Amelia was what one would call a buxom babe, she had pleasant, brown eyes, very fake dyed beach blonde hair and clothes so tight on her it left very little to the imagination.

"Why didn't you call me last night Tony," she whined in her nasally voice, an octave higher and she would have shattered a champagne glass. "I was so lonely last night."

Tony just looked at her calmly but in reality he was listening to music from his ear piece, the MicroMp3 version 3.5, he sighed, how many times had he heard this is the past few years, you a give a few trinkets and kisses to your PA and they think you are the love of their life.

"I was at a casual meeting with some of our prospective clients. Nothing formal, no business deals, just entertaining," he waffled on.

"But Tony, I thought you loved me," she continued to whine.

"Amelia, sorry to break it to you, but I do not love you, it was just some fun. So why don't you go to my favourite coffee vendor and get me the usual Amelia.

"But Toooonnny!"

"Go do your job Amelia," ordered Tony.

"I will," she paused, "only if you kiss me and say that you love me."

Now Tony was getting annoyed, he took another deep breath, "Amelia just leave and get me a coffee."

"No!"

"Aren't you supposed to be my P.A?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, not expecting such defiance and pressed a little button (well actually it was more like a sensor pad, who uses buttons these days, that was old technology in Tony Starks opinion) on the underside on the mahogany desk.

"Well yes, but I'm more right?"She replied rather demanding instead of asking.

"Well, not exactly," Tony replied cooly.

"WHAT?" she shrieked.

Tony cringed, how was it possible that women could scream at such a pitch and yet not shatter glass, then again his private windows were reinforced with synthesized carbon which was basically man made diamond, the hardest substance in the world. If only it were more flexible Tony would've incorporated into his Ironman suit. At least he had some scientists working on that. Anyway Tony receded out of his thoughts and back into the present.

"Well actually your no longer my P.A or anything else anymore Miss Rug."

"WHAT?" she shrieked even louder.

Tony stayed unfazed. Then the door of his office slid open and a big burly man with a black and white suit that was crisply cute strode in. He wore sunglasses which made his expression unreadable.

"Hogan, could you escort Miss Rug to her office to collect her things and then to the administration to sign her out and give her her final cheque. And lastly escort Miss Rug out of the building and pay the taxi to take Miss Rug wherever she wants."

"Sure Mr. Stark, Miss Rug this way please," Hogan showed Amelia the door.

"NOOO!" she shrieked, knowing that she just got fired.

Tony winced, still not believing that a person can possibly reach such high notes. He stared even harder at Happy Hogan, hoping that he would get the message. Hogan obviously got the message and with the quick nod of his head Hogan hooked his arm with one of Amelia's arms and forcefully yet gently escorted Tony's ex-P.A out of his office while she was flailing and screaming at the top of her lungs.

When she was out, the door slid closed and the Stark CEO finally let out a tired sigh and rubbed his temples thinking he had finally got some peace and quiet except after what felt like thirty seconds his office doors opened again without any notification and the person that strode in was his best friend Lieutenant James Rhodes a.k.a Rhodey.

Tony looked up at Rhodey dressed in his immaculate army suit, "Ohh it's you," he said bluntly. Tony Stretched out his legs and put his Armani tailored shoe covered feet on the mahogany desk, a die hard habit of his.

"Oh it's me?" Rhodey asked incredulously.

"Yes, Rhodey?"

"What the hell Tony? You fired another P.A again! That's the fourth one this year! Stop sleeping with your assistants!"

"I don't sleep with my assistants. I just have a professional, slightly closer than friendly relationship with them. And she was getting clingy and touchy?" he replied casually.

"Whatever. Who the hell is supposed to organise you MIT and Harvard Lecture, trip to Japan and consulting the troops in Iraq? Not to mention your guest appearance at Oxford University in England. "

"Well that's why I have you, right?" Tony said staring straight into Rhodey's deep,brown eyes with his bright, blue ones.

"Why can't Happy do it? He's your bodyguard, I guess he can also be your secretary and it'll be easier cause he knows about Ironman? I mean he's already worn the Ironman suit for you when you're busy and stuff, " suggested Rhodey.

Tony paused and though about it. Tony recruited Happy, an old friend from the Tomorrow Academy around two years ago after he sustained a wrestling or basketball injury resulting that he shouldn't play sport professionally. As a bodyguard Happy was pretty good with his job, not that he needed to do much, just look the part in which he does very well with those bulging muscles. Even though Happy could work the Ironman suit to an extent, Happy as a secretary probably wouldn't be the greatest idea in the world.

"I don't think that's a good idea Rhodes he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed if you get my drift. And anyway who do you think gave you a boost into that position of yours Weapons and Technology Advisor."

It was Rhodey's time to sigh. Every time Tony fired his P.A Lt. James Rhodes had to step in.

"Fine," Rhodey surrendered, "just as long as you get another P.A in two months I'm not cutting out from my military duties for too long."

"Sure, sure," Tony answered nonchalantly, "Who do you think provides the bulk of technology the military uses anyways?"

"Whatever? Anywho," Rhodey took a slim touch pad device out of his inner pocket and typed in a couple of things. "You have a flight to catch at ten tomorrow morning for you speech in Oxford, get ready. By the way I worked my ass off to get this promotion."

Rhodey grudgingly walked out of the office while scaring a few of the workers away. But what was really on his mind now is how the infamous Tony Stark would react if he saw Pepper Potts again when he arrives at Oxford University in three days time.

**Chappa twooo (: review!**


	3. Meeting Again

Pepper woke up to her loud, annoying alarm blasting by her bedside. She groaned tiredly and slapped her hand onto the snooze button. "Five more minutes," She mumbled, falling back asleep.

A half an hour later, Pepper was woken by her alarm. Then it struck her and she rushed out of bed. _Crap! I forgot about the lecture!_ Pepper rushed in the shower and rushed to get dressed. She quickly ran her toothbrush over her teeth, ran a brush through her hair quickly, grabbed her books and rushed to the assembly hall.

Pepper ran down the sidewalk and through the campus, hoping she'd get to the lecture on time. In all her haste, she had forgotten who her teacher had said the guest speaker would be. But she was too hurried to try to remember, and she saw the assembly hall in the distance and checked her phone to see that she had only a few minutes to get there.

She also ignored everyone passing by her; yet, if she had, she would have found the one person she hadn't expected to see again.

~…~

Tony, relaxing outside the assembly hall in which he was soon to give a lecture, caught sight of a girl who looked vaguely familiar yet quite rushed to get somewhere. He knew Rhodey wasn't really paying attention, but the sight of her running caught his attention. Something about her seemed so…familiar. And the weirdest part—or at least for Tony—was that it struck him somewhere deeper than recognizing the girl. _Maybe its one of my past assistants who decided to go to college again? _ Tony then forgot the theory because he figured that the girl had looked too young to be his assistant, and furthermore she looked too…intelligent.

Tony decided to shrug it off and get into the assembly hall for his lecture.

~…~

Pepper rushed past the lecture hall doors and quickly took a seat, thrusting her books onto her lap and quickly opening her notebook to a clean page; then the guest speaker began to speak.

When Pepper heard that familiar voice, she froze. _Him? _He's _the guest speaker? _Pepper panicked. If she had known it would be HIM who was going to speak, she would have reacted very differently and prepared herself for this day. But it came by surprise. _Maybe if he had kept in touch with me he'd have told me he was coming! Stupid boy!_ Pepper complained. She tried to continue taking notes, but hearing his voice in person instead of over the TV just took over her concentration. She could not for the life of her focus on anything but him. _No, stop flooding my thoughts! I don't want you in those!_

For the rest of the lecture, Pepper couldn't keep her eyes off of him.

~…~

Tony looked out to the crowd of people under the same (or at least relatively similar) major and felt a small, teensy weensy knot form in his stomach. He always got the pre-show nervousness when speaking to a crowd of people, but once he got into business or science-y stuff, he forgot his worries.

But this time was different. When he found that familiar female face in the back of the crowd just staring at him in shock, he felt nervous as he spoke about whatever it was that these people were interested in. Just seeing her face after so long hit him hard. The heartache came pouring back into him as the last words he'd heard from her rung in his head. _I think it's time for us to go our separate ways._ All his short flings had been his way of trying to forget about the insufferable heartache, but it never quite worked. He always ended up thinking of her when breaking it off with some girl. No matter what he did, his thoughts always went back to her.

_So why didn't I ever e-mail her?_

Tony then felt a wave of stupidity take over him. He felt stupid for not at least e-mailing her every once in a while to say 'hey, how've you been?' or 'I miss you, when can we see each other again?'. Why, if he missed her so much, didn't he tell her that? _What, was I scared? Was I being stupid? Was I being lazy? Was I trying to be a jerk? Because I'm pretty sure I succeeded. _Tony decided to try to concentrate on what he was saying and less on the girl in the audience.

~…~

After the lecture was finished, Tony rushed backstage and immediately with a distressed sigh.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Rhodey asked as he followed Tony. As Rhodey spoke, Tony stopped abruptly and turned around.

"_She _ was there." Tony explained.

"She who?" Rhodey asked.

"Pepper. She was in the audience." Tony explained further. Rhodey had had a feeling that such a thing would happen. But as they walked out of the back door to the assembly hall, they ran into someone familiar.

As Pepper took a step back and brushed her hair back behind her ear, she saw that the person she wanted to run into least standing there. She sighed.

"Oh my gosh, Tony! I can't believe you're here…" Pepper said, trying not to sound irritated or mad.

"I didn't realize THIS was the college you went to after you moved! Gosh, how are you?"

"Well gee; maybe I'd be doing a bit better if _someone _had kept in touch…" Pepper sighed in complaint.

_Crap, she's mad…_ "Look, Pepper, I know I didn't really keep in touch with you and I'm sorry, I've just been so busy…" Tony said. Hey, it was kind of true, right?

"Oh, sure. You've been 'busy' with your 'friend dates' and night-long parties! Gosh, I should have known you would be sooo busy between your 'friends' and your 'busy busy company'! Stop giving me crap, Tony, I think we both know that's just a load of crap." Tony sighed.

"Come on, Pepper, I'm sorry! I really wanted to, but…I-it just hurt me, when we broke up…I just never stopped thinking about that day. I felt like if I called or even e-mailed you it'd just…it'd hurt too much. I'm sorry, Pepper, really I am…" Tony said.

"And you don't think it hurt me just as much? Tony, I didn't want to break up just as much as you. But that didn't stop me from wanting to talk to you at least every once in a while! Tony, I _wanted _to hear from you. I _wanted _to keep being your friend and keep asking you 'hey, what's up?' like any normal friend would do. But you never gave me the opportunity to." Tony was hesitant to answer and it was quiet between the two for a while; somewhere in their conversation Rhodey had found a way to slip past the two and talk to their cab driver about getting back to the airport.

"I have more important things to do, Tony; I can't waste any more time on you…I have to go." Tony felt stupid for ruining their conversation, and he wanted to take back the past five minutes.

"W-well if this college thing doesn't work out for you, I'm looking for a new PA…" Tony said as she sighed, rolled her eyes and walked away.

"Yeah, that's cuz you keep firing them after you get personal." Rhodey budded in. Pepper stopped in her tracks. Rhodey took a step away from Tony in fear that saying that had been a mistake.

"You WHAT?" Pepper asked, infuriated. She tried to fight the tears forming in her eyes.

"Rhodey!" Tony whispered. Rhodey backed further away, muttering an 'oops' as he did so.

"I-I…" Was all Tony could say.

"Oh, it hurts huh? I don't think it does, Tony, considering you can move on that easily!" Pepper was nearly yelling. Tony couldn't think of anything to say.

"It hurts? Yeah right, Tony." Pepper quickly scurried towards her dorm.

Tony sulkingly plopped himself into the cab and began the ride to the airport.

~…~

Jade was concerned about Patricia. She had stuffed herself in her room ever since she had gotten back from her weird nerd lecture thing and if she pressed her ear to the door she was sure she heard Patricia's weeping. And whenever she knocked on Patricia's door, she just yelled "go away!" and her room got silent again.

"Come on, Patricia, tell me what's wrong! I'll bug you all day if I have to!" Inside Pepper's room, she smirked a moment as that line had reminded her of the old days in high school when she had said something very similar to an oblivious Tony. But then she remembered how he had hurt her and went back to her weeping.

When Pepper opened the door, Jade immediately saw Pepper's puffy red eyes and knew that something was really wrong. Patricia never cried. Ever.

"Believe me, Jade, if I could tell you I would have forever ago…" Patricia closed her door and went back to her weeping.

**:O I took over a story for the first time! Did I do well on this chapter? Does it fit in with the rest of the chapter? I hope so…sorry I neglected to add a chapter for so long, I've been so busy lately! But I have so much free time being on summer vacation. I'll probably be updating more often now! Yay! Haha well review :3**


	4. Stuck in England

"Shoot," Tony complained, "that stinks." The pilot shrugged and left to call an engineer. Apparently, the plane wouldn't start up correctly and they had to call in an engineer to take a look at it. So in other words, he and Rhodey were stuck in England until they could get the engine looked at. Tony didn't entirely mind, either. It would give him more time to beg forgiveness from Pepper; not that he expected it any time soon.

Tony and Rhodey decided to take a walk around campus to try and pass the time until a local engineer could come and fix the problem; although Tony knew he could easily look at it and fix it himself, they had insisted that he stay relaxed during the whole situation. So Tony did.

~…~

"Come on, Pepper, you have class soon. Come out of your room," Jade prodded. Pepper stepped out of her room and closed her door without a word to anyone. Jade knew that Patricia hadn't applied her makeup, and her eyes looked tired and she had bags under them; obviously she had been up all night crying. It appeared that she was fully showered and dressed…but the part that concerned her more was the fact that she wouldn't tell anyone what was wrong.

"Don't you want to talk about it?" Jade asked as Pepper walked towards the door.

"I don't want to talk." Patricia responded tiredly and miserably, walking out the door and to her class. Jade shrugged and went about her other business. She was sure Patricia would come around soon.

~…~

As Tony and Rhodey walked through campus, Tony spotted a familiar redhead walking not too far from them to one of her classes. Tony hit his arm against Rhodey's stomach lightly to grab his attention.

"Hey, there's Pepper! I'm gonna go talk to her," Tony said, running over to her.

Pepper saw Tony running to her out of the corner of her eye. She sighed and stopped walking, knowing what he wanted to say.

"What are you still doing here? Don't you have a plane to catch and a city full of women to take home for the night?" Pepper said angrily. Tony sighed.

"Our plane is having problems starting up and they called in an engineer to take a look. I'm going to be here awhile. And come on, Pepper, that's not me anymore!" Tony explained. Pepper shifted her weight to her other hip, showing that she just didn't care.

"Oh, come on, do you really think I'll believe that that easily?" Pepper said.

"Come on, Pepper, I've changed since then!" Tony begged her forgiveness.

"Oh, so we're telling funny lies now? Okay, my turn! Hmm, let's see…the sky is purple, the world ended in 2012, you've changed since then…" Pepper said with a glare. Tony sighed.

"Come on, Pepper, you have to forgive me! I can't stand it anymore!" Tony exclaimed.

"Gee, Tony, maybe you should've thought of that before sleeping with all of those girls." Pepper walked away, leaving Tony wallowing in his own misery as he sat and sulked on a nearby bench. Rhodey walked over to Pepper next to try to talk to her.

"Pepper, can't you at least just try to forgive him?" Rhodey asked.

"Why should I forgive him? He acts like our relationship never happened!" Pepper complained.

"But he knows it did. I can tell he tries not to talk about you or how much he misses you every day. Or how he wished he could e-mail you more often without going the rest of the day facing heartache. Pepper, he's lost so many people in his life that he was close to that when you left it hurt him hardest. He's sick of losing people; you were the last one he had. All those flings he had? They were exactly that, flings. They were him trying to move on but failing miserably when he woke up next to some girl he doesn't love and starting to think of you when he told her to leave," Rhodey explained. Pepper tried to ignore him, tried not to hear everything that was making her feel bad inside, but it was all too hard.

"You know, you're making it awfully hard for me to be mad at him…" Pepper said, beginning to walk away; yet she was stopped when Rhodey spoke more.

"He told me once after you moved that you were the reason he woke up every morning. He told me that every time he woke up or fell asleep his mind was flooded with thoughts of you and the night you broke up. And I can tell he still does, because I see his expression when he's working and I know it means you're on his mind. He really needs you, Pepper," Rhodey said in hopes that his words would turn her heart around; yet it didn't seem to be working. All Pepper did next was turn back to face Rhodey as she wiped the tears from her eyes and said,

"The saddest thing is, I need him too." Then she turned and left for her class. Rhodey sighed and turned back to Tony with a sad shake of his head. It was quite clear now that Pepper wasn't going to forgive Tony easily; or at all.

~…~

Pepper took a seat in the back of her morning class, knowing that if she was far in back no one would pay attention to her; although it was straying from her usual up-front seat, pay-close-attention class attitude, and some people might be curious about the change in behavior, Pepper didn't care. She just wanted to be left alone. That's all she wanted for at least the day; then everyone could bother her for whatever it was they wanted. But as of right now, she would ignore every person who walked past her.

How could Tony just…use all those women like that? Is that his pathetic excuse for getting over me or something? Pepper thought. Rhodey's words echoed in her head and each time it bounced off the walls of her brain it pushed her closer to crying; and that wasn't something she wanted to do in the middle of class. The last thing she wanted to do was break down in tears in the middle of class. She had already gotten a short lecture last class about paying attention during class, and she didn't prefer being lectured again for uncontrollably crying in the middle of class.

~…~

Tony rested his head in his hands as he sat on the bench next to Rhodey.

"I can't believe how badly I messed up…" Tony complained. Rhodey patted his back in support.

"I'm not saying I blame you, Tony, but you did fool around with a lot of girls since you and Pepper broke up." Rhodey said.

"Yeah, but I couldn't help it. It's just, I'm trying so hard to move on past Pepper but its…its hard. When we were together, I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. I felt like we would be together forever. But then that day when she told me she was moving, and we were breaking up…I just knew my heart would never be the same again," Tony explained, "I just can't be with anyone but her."

Rhodey didn't have anything else to say other than just to sit beside Tony and be his friend.

~…~

In the outskirts of New York City, in a dark alley, stood two men; standing menacingly and planning even more menacingly.

"The government thinks sending people out to other countries will keep them safe. But I say they're all fools. That's just what we wanted them to do." One of the men, who had a quiet, raspy voice explained. The other man nodded in understanding.

"What is our next move going to be?" The other man asked.

"Since we damaged Tony Stark's airplane, we know that Iron Man isn't going to be back for a while. So we have now and only now to cause as much havoc as possible in the city." The man explained. The second man continued to listen vividly.

"So, attack now!" The man ordered, then disappearing into the building next to them. The second man nodded and stepped out of the shadows of the alley to reveal a man dawned in a full-metal outfit; almost like armor.

**Ahh, another chapter completed :D how'd I do on this one? Was it a bit more dramatic? I sure hope so…anyways, on to updating all the other stories! Review?**


	5. Regret

**Song 1-**_California King Bed _by _Rihanna_

**Song 2-**_Somewhere With You _by _Kenny Chesney_

***You'll see why there are two songs. (Alright, alright, I'll tell you! One for each person.)**

_**Pepper's POV**_

_Chest to chest  
>Nose to nose<br>Palm to palm  
>We were always just that close<br>Wrist to wrist  
>Toe to toe<br>Lips that felt just like the inside of a rose  
>So, how come when I reach out my finger<br>It feels like more than distance between us_

Pepper listened to the lyrics to the song playing from her iPod and groaned. She hated how accurate they were and she hated how they were telling her that no matter what Tony had done she would always love him. But I can't! Pepper thought. He hurt me and he probably doesn't even care for me! I heard Rhodey, Tony's been sleeping around with all the girls in the city. He's over me. So why can't I be over him?

She listened more to the song; hating what she was hearing, of course.

_Just when I felt like giving up on us  
>You turned around and gave me one last touch<br>That made everything feel better  
>And even then my eyes got wetter<br>So confused wanna ask you if you love me  
>But I don't wanna seem so weak<br>Maybe I've been California dreaming_

"UGH, WHY DO I STILL LOVE YOU?"

Behind Pepper's bedroom door, Jade listened to Pepper's agonized complaints in curiosity. Love who? After she'd gotten back from her lecture, she had once again locked herself in her room without a word. She had never had such a desire to seclude herself, and it greatly concerned Jade because when she asked Pepper would just say "go away, it's nothing." which was clearly a lie. Why was she being so…antisocial? Jade wanted to know. And now that there was a supposed love interest, Jade was especially curious. Patricia had denied every boy who came her way. She had no interest in dating whatsoever. So why was she talking about still loving someone? And why is she so upset about it?

These thoughts and more ran through Jade's mind. Pepper has been acting very strange lately, Jade thought, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it.

~…~

_If you're going out with someone new  
>I'm going out with someone too<br>I won't feel sorry for me, I'm getting drunk  
>But I'd much rather be somewhere with you<br>Laughing loud on a carnival ride, yeah  
>Driving around on a Saturday night<br>You made fun of me for singing my song  
>Got a hotel room just to turn you on<br>You said pick me up at three a.m.  
>You're fighting with your mom again<br>And I'd go, I'd go, I'd go somewhere with you_

Tony listened to the song playing on the radio and sighed sadly. He knew just how bad he had messed up and he wished he could have taken everything back.

_I can go out every night of the week  
>Can go home with anybody I meet<br>But it's just a temporary high 'cause when I close my eyes  
>I'm somewhere with you, somewhere with you<br>If you see me out on the town  
>And it looks like I'm burning it down<br>You won't ask and I won't say  
>But in my heart I'm always somewhere with you<em>

The truth of the wise Kenny Chesney had sunk into Tony's thoughts. He had slept around so many women since Pepper had broken up with him—but the truth of the matter was that each time his eyes shut afterwards, he thought and dreamt of him and Pepper being together, and happy, just like they used to be. He would remember all the fun times they had had together and he would miss those times and when he woke up—sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes in the morning—feeling a deep sense of sorrow that he knew he had to hide for work. But sometimes it was just all too hard.

Sometimes he would even have a restless night where no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get to sleep. So he would walk through town in the dark night and watch the city light up and watch all the happy, laughing, hustling-and-bustling people going about their night lives. He would remember how he and Pepper would roam the streets sometimes at night when they were bored and wide awake and they would end up asleep on either his or her couch upon arriving home. Sometimes they wouldn't retreat to their homes until they saw the sun rising over the horizon in the morning. But it didn't matter to them then, because for Tony, as long as he was somewhere with her he didn't have a care in the world.

The truth was, he knew he would never feel love like he had with her.

Yet he had no clue what real dangers were about back in the city.

~…~

"The city is coming to a state of mass panic. Criminals and super-villains run rampant through the streets of New York with no one to stop them. Iron Man is nowhere to be seen and no one has heard from him in at least two days."

Roberta listened intently to the news as they reported on the status of the city. Villains like Whiplash and Blizzard were too close to destroying the city. They would demand something in turn for not destroying whatever it was that they wanted something from, and if they didn't get it, they would destroy.

"The citizens of our great city are paralyzed in fear and we are running out of options. If Iron Man doesn't show up soon," the news reporter continued, "the city will be doomed."

**Bahh, I finally updated a story! Yay! Now to update those million others I've got going…-.- Review!**


	6. Decisions, Decisions

"So a bunch of bad guys run around and make a mess. Do you really think that will stop Iron Man?" Whiplash asked as the robotic arms worked on him.

"That isn't the complete plan. It's meant as a mere distraction for Iron Man's return. Making his private jet break down was just a minor setback, so when he returns to the city he will be majorly distracted by all he has missed. And when he's busy cleaning up all the messes, you will attack and leave this tucked away in his armor," Mr. Fix explained, holding up a tiny, square-ish device.

"It's a small, practically invisible surveillance camera. Once placed on Iron Man's armor, it will work its way past Iron Man's computer systems and then we will be free to observe every aspect of Iron Man's armor and his life outside of the armor." he paused briefly, "and in a matter of time the armor will be ours to mass-produce." Fix further explained. Whiplash smiled devilishly. He was looking forward to this plan.

~…~

Tony's plane got fixed soon enough and once they got back to the city by the next evening. But Tony had quite the surprise brewing for him. A massive amount of criminal activity in Iron Man's absence. How they had known Iron Man wasn't available was beyond him, and why so much havoc arose in his absence was even more peculiar. It was understandable that criminals and villains would know they could get away with something in his absence, but that wouldn't cause mass-chaos like what was happening now.

But there was no time for thinking, there was only time to take action. Once Tony armored up and made a public appearance, most problem-causers scattered; but one remained: Whiplash.

"Whiplash. I should've known you were involved in this chaos somehow." Iron Man commented.

"What can I say. I just can't stay away." Whiplash responded, throwing out a whip at Iron Man—with a small camera attached to the end. Unknown to Iron Man, Whiplash attached it to Tony's armor before Tony grabbed the whip and snapped it in half and chucked it to the street below as the flow of electricity stopped. After doing so, he shot a repulsor at Whiplash, which sent him off of his floating saw-blade until it flew down automatically to catch Whiplash.

Whiplash wrapped another whip around Iron Man's chest plate and increased the electric flow as to send it through Iron Man's armor. He knew all he had to do was distract Iron Man while the tiny camera worked its way past Iron Man's complicated computer systems; which would be completed in a matter of minutes.

Tony finally unwrapped the chain and blasted Whiplash with his missiles. Whiplash knew the task was completed and he had no further business in this fight; so he began his plan to leave. He pretended Iron Man's missile-launch was actually effective and fell to the ground.

This made Tony chuckle. "I didn't know you could be taken down so easily. I ought to make that move more often," He commented. Whiplash got on his floating saw-blade and left Tony with a last statement before leaving.

"My business with you is done, Iron Man, and I don't need to waste my time battling you."

"What was that all about?" Tony asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he's up to something?" Rhodey commented from his phone.

"Whatever, I'm sure it's nothing." With that, Tony flew back to his armory/home lab and the armor retracted back into its holding place on the wall.

Tony then plopped himself on his living room couch with a loud sigh.

"Still upset about Pepper, huh?" Rhodey commented.

"Yeah,"

~…~

As the conversation went on in Tony Stark's living room, Fix watched with great interest.

"Tony Stark is Iron Man," He marveled as he looked up the young Stark's file. Everything from his school record to his address to the Stark International files to his work associates and closest friends; and a pleasing link on his file page caught his attention.

"He's fond of Miss Potts, eh?" He smirked. "Well, I'll just have to take advantage of that." He turned to Whiplash standing behind him.

"I need you to…pick something up for me…" He turned back to Stark's file with a cruel smile.

~…~

"Come on, Patricia, can't you at least tell me a little of what's bothering you?" Jade begged.

"I'm really sorry, Jade, but I just can't tell you anything. It'd be too dangerous if I did, let's leave it at that." Pepper explained. This made Jade especially curious, but she had no more time for questioning.

"Fine, whatever. I have to get to soccer practice anyways," Jade sighed. Pepper really did want to spill her troubles to her friend, but she knew that for the sake of the U.S. government's attempt to protect her she would probably be better off just keeping it to herself.

Before she had time to process another thought, she realized that her door had been opened and there was someone in her room. Yet when she looked up, she didn't like what she saw.

"Wh-Whiplash?" She stammered. "What are you d-doing here?" She asked, fear evident in her voice.

Whiplash smiled a devil's smile, wrapped his whips around her mouth and wrists, and the last thing Pepper remembered was a sharp pain in her head and then everything went black.

~…~

Tony sat boredly in his office, twiddling a pen in his fingers as he thought more about how largely he had messed up. He couldn't help but revert his thoughts back to Pepper, no matter how hard he tried to focus on business matters. It was just too hard. It practically couldn't be done. And he knew it wasn't good for business, because he needed to concentrate on the matters at hand involving the company, like mild, everyday problems that he faced on a regular basis.**(A/N: yeah, that was kinda redundant. But I feel like the sentence is completed…) **

Yet his thoughts were disrupted by a large crash in his office window. Tony covered his face with his arms and when glass stopped falling, Tony looked up to see Whiplash in his office.

"Whiplash! What are you doing here?" Tony asked.

"Perhaps the question is, will you surrender when I reveal your secret?" Whiplash retorted. Tony was now confused.

"I know you're Iron Man and I have the footage to prove it. And I believe there's something of yours that I want and I have something you may want," Whiplash explained. Tony's eyes widened when he heard the part about his secret, but when Whiplash stepped to the side of his saw-blade to reveal Pepper with her hands tied behind her back and her mouth taped shut, Tony was beyond surprised. He was instantly mad.

"Let her go, Whiplash," Tony demanded.

"Only if you surrender your armor schematics first," He said.

"And if I don't?" Tony asked, crossing his arms.

"Then the girl pays the price with her life." He explained. Tony's mouth made an 'o' as he silently said "oooh."

"In that case…" Tony said, "I don't think I have a choice."

**Soo yeah, this is me attending to the "Fix is being weird" part of the summary. Short but I really have to get to bed before I get yelled at…review?**


	7. KidnappedNot As Fun As It Seems

Pepper may have been mad at Tony, but she wasn't insane. She knew it was a terrible idea for Tony to just hand over the schematics. She started shaking her head as a sign for Tony to not do whatever he thought he was doing. Once Whiplash saw her head shaking, he ripped the tape off of her mouth, causing Pepper to cringe in pain.

"Oooughh," she groaned. "Tony I may hate you right now but you really don't need to do this!" Pepper said.

"Shutup, girl! Whiplash tossed her off his spinning saw-blade and Pepper recoiled where she had been tossed like a useless children's toy.

"Pepper!" Tony exclaimed out of worry. Pepper kept her head lowered in shame. She felt so useless in this moment.

"I'm not giving you my armor schematics, Whiplash!" Tony warned.

"Then I'll just have to kill your friend and spread your secret identity through the whole world." Whiplash said, turning to leave. Tony quickly dawned his black backpack, pressed the center button and soon enough he was engulfed in a red metal.

"Not if I stop you first!" Tony exclaimed, throwing a beam of energy from his gauntlet at Whiplash. Pepper attempted to cover her head with her tied hands from the debris of Whiplash hitting the window, causing their fight to go outside into the skies of the city.

"You'll never be able to stop me, Iron Man! All you have to do is give me your armor schematics and I'll leave you and your little friend alone!" Whiplash exclaimed.

"I'll never surrender to you!" Tony retorted, hitting him with his repulsors again.

Pepper, still sitting with hands tied behind her back in Tony's office, inched towards Tony's desk and tried to search for something to cut the rope from her hands when Rhodey walked in.

"Hey Tony what's with all the commotion-" Rhodey stopped when he saw a smashed window, Pepper with hands tied behind back, and overall messy office.

"What happened in here? What are you doing here Pepper?" Rhodey asked, very confused.

"Whiplash kidnapped me to try and get Tony's armor schematics!" Pepper explained.

"Well where are they now?" He asked as he untied Pepper's ropes.

"They're fighting, outside!"

"Did Tony give him the schematics?" Rhodey asked out of panic.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK?" Pepper yelled. Rhodey finished untying her and Pepper stood as she yelled.

"I'm sorry, its just the adrenaline speaking!" Rhodey responded.

"Well you should get out there and help him! Go, War Machine! I'll be fine!" Pepper pushed him out of Tony's office and Rhodey took the hint, running towards the lab to retrieve his armor. Pepper stepped over to the broken window, trying her best to avoid shards of broken glass. She peered out into the skyline to see Tony and Whiplash still fighting. Pepper went back to his desk and sat in his desk chair and began to think.

This is just like the old days, she thought. I'm just the helpless, stupid damsel in distress. I just sit here helplessly while my rescuer fights it out to save me. I just sit back and watch like I know I can't do anything. This is exactly why I warmed up to the idea of college across the country, so I could escape from this. I know I could just get up and leave, but I have no money for a plane ticket.

Suddenly, there was a loud commotion outside and Tony had pretty much beaten up Whiplash to the point where he knew he had to return at a better date to completely defeat Iron Man and get his schematics.

"Fine, you win this round Tony Stark," Whiplash said. "But I'll be back. And when I return," He laughed shortly yet menacingly.

"You'll be sorry you ever denied me."

Tony shrugged and went back to his messy office, more concerned for Pepper than anything at the moment.

"Pepper, are you okay?" He asked, placing a hand on her arm. She shoved it away, her arms folded.

"Yeah I'm fine. Can you just help me get back home?" She spat.

"Come on, you're not still mad at me are you?" Tony asked.

"Yes, now just get me home." She barked.

"Come on Pepper, I can't stand this anymore." He placed his hand over hers, but she just shoved him away.

"Pepper you're all I have left in the world. And now you're telling me I've lost you. I-I need you, please give me one last chance," Pepper sighed and turned to face Tony.

"Even if I did, Tony, I can't. I'm Patricia Parks now, remember? I'm not supposed to know you anymore." Pepper said, looking down to her feet in sadness.

"As true as it is that I need you just as much as you need me, Tony, it just can't happen anymore." Tony sighed at this and they stood in silence for a moment.

"Now please just take me home?"

~…~

Jade hung up her phone and suddenly everything made sense to her. She had no idea what all the commotion on Patricia's side of the line was, but once she listened to what the two were saying she put the puzzle pieces together and discovered her roommate's tremendous lies.

But why would she lie about her whole life? Why would she lie about being Patricia Parks and why would she move to England? And why would she give up a whole relationship with a boy she knew she loved, thus preventing his 'flings'? The reason behind her madness was very unclear to Jade.

Unless, Jade thought, she isn't even the goodie-two shoes she portrays herself to be. Maybe there was something bigger going on that Jade hadn't been seeing. Maybe Patricia—or Pepper, as she was apparently named—was plotting something devilishly evil and was plotting to take over the world or something. What was she up to?

"So, Patricia Parks, huh?"

~…~

When Pepper miserably walked into her apartment, she saw Jade standing there, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Look Jade if this is about your usual 'what's your sad attitude all about' again then I'm not in the mood." Pepper said.

"Oh aren't you, _Pepper Potts_?" Jade prodded. Pepper froze.

"Wha-what did you call me?" Pepper asked.

"You heard me. _Pepper."_ Pepper sighed and sat Jade down on the couch.

"Look, there's a long story behind this that you're going to have to promise to keep to yourself." Pepper began.

"Four years ago, I was a senior at the Tomorrow Academy in New York City. Life was good—I was getting the best grades I've ever had, I was finally a senior, and I had the man of my dreams. I was dating _the _Tony Stark, my best friend. Everything was so perfect, I didn't want it to end."

"But it didn't stay the way I wanted it to. The government had to relocate people to different countries in order to protect them from a dangerous villain called Mr. Fix, and his henchman Whiplash. They relocated me and my FBI-agent father to England at the end of senior year. The government had given me a new identity—Patricia Parks. That way Fix would never find me, because earlier that year he had tried to kill me because I looked up his file. But I knew I was safe from him, which made it all the harder to do what I had to do next: break up with the boy I was heavily in love with. I _really _didn't want to do it, and since he's lost so much already in his life I can't blame him for being upset."

"But I broke up with him anyways, and from that day on I vowed to myself that I would focus solely on my studies and I swore off dating. But ever since I can't get him out of my head and we met again at one of my lectures and from there things just sped up. Whiplash kidnapped me at Fix's order, Tony had to save me, we talked and that must've been what you heard. But how did you hear it?" Pepper asked.

"I called you to see where you went and you mustve pressed talk by accident. I overheard your whole conversation." Jade explained.

"So to make everything clear, you don't have an evil ulterior motive?" Jade asked.

"No of course not! I'm just really upset over my breakup. Still." Jade thought for a moment.

"So all this time you've been shutting yourself away in your room because you're upset over your ex but you couldn't tell anyone about it?" Jade asked. Pepper nodded, her mood flying even farther south. She looked down and away, and Jade immediately pulled Pepper in for a hug.

"Well I'm not going to let you stay miserable over this. Gimme the 4-1-1 on this. Why'd he have so many 'flings' after you left? Like what's his story?" Jade asked.

"You're not too familiar with the Starks here in England are you?" Jade shook her head no.

"Well he and his dad, Howard Stark, were all each other had…" Pepper began. She explained everything, from Tony's mom dying to Tony almost living at Stark International, to losing his father and his father's company for two years. She explained Obadiah Stane, the Tomorrow Academy and how they got together. (trying her best to avoid Iron Man as much as possible, of course.)

"And Rhodey tells me its because I'm all he has left, and I really do believe him. But the kicker is that I really need him too, but somehow it's not that easy…" Pepper finished.

"Well Patricia-" Pepper stopped her there.

"Oh god please start calling me Pepper. I hate Patricia." Pepper said.

"Uh, okay, well Pepper, honestly, not to offend you but hearing his sad, sad story, I really don't blame him. I mean he feels like he's got nothing left of his life and now he doesn't even have the girl he loves? I mean not to make you feel bad at all. I think you two just need to jump the hurdle, get over whatever the heck you're not getting over, and just fall in love all over again."

Pepper sighed and sank into the couch.

**Wow that was longer than I anticipated…but whatever, cool! Sorry for the poor updating lately, I started band competitions and swimming and I'm just really tired and busy. But I have the night and I'll do my best to update everything! Review!**


	8. Master Plans

"Oh, and by the way, if you tell a single soul any of this I'm pretty sure it'll lead to us being dead. So just to be safe, don't say anything. American government told me not to." Pepper explained.

"Got it. Won't tell a soul, you have my word." Jade agreed.

"Good…" Pepper went back to her sulking.

"I don't get it, why are you so reluctant to just forgive him? You love him don't you?" Jade inquired.

"Honestly, I don't know. My whole high school career I did nothing but cling to his side through everything like a lost puppy. And then he betrays our promise. I just feel like I shouldn't be coming crawling back to him because he says he's sorry…I don't know. I feel like he's got to do more to prove he's really sorry. Words aren't really enough." Pepper explained. Jade smirked.

"Ah, I see. A sort of payback apology demand, ay? We could make this interesting…" She plotted. Pepper knew where she was going with it.

"Jade you little conniving sneak!" Pepper pinched her cheeks. "You're my little genius!"

"Here's the plan…" Jade began.

~…~

Tony sighed.

"Pepper's still mad at me, isn't she?"

"Yup. You really messed up this time." Rhodey said. Tony gave him a glare that said 'nice encouragement you got going there, buddy'.

"Hey, you're the one that had to go and blurt out how I slept around with tons of girls in the last four years!" Tony spat.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that." Rhodey defended himself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It's just that this whole thing with Pepper is driving me crazy."

"Is it just the fact that someone who knows you're Iron Man is all the way across the country and you don't know if she's telling people she knows who Iron Man is?" Rhodey asked. His way of saying 'is it that you don't trust her?'.

"No, of course that's not it! I don't even care about that, really. I just care that she's miles away from me and I've managed to fall in love with her within the five seconds that I met her." Tony explained. Rhodey knew the young inventor's dilemma; and he knew that both love-struck young adults were conflicted about the situation.

"Well the situation isn't really easy to deal with, even for you, Tony. There's nothing you can do to bring her back to the city unless the government thinks she'll be safe here again. Which means getting rid of Fix." Rhodey explained.

"I know, I know. I'm working on it."

"Didn't Pepper tell you not to do that when she broke up with you?"

"Don't remind me…" There was a brief silence.

"Well what are you going to do?" Asked Rhodey. Tony looked up to his army friend.

"That's a good question."

~…~

Fix laughed to himself as his spy cameras told him everything like a best friend with plenty of secrets. They thought that as long as they were in their homes, they were safe. But they were wrong. He had eyes on them both no matter where they went.

Especially the redhead. He would not let his prey get away. Her easily managed escape had haunted him for years. NO one had gotten away from him when he wanted someone dead, and her being connected with Iron Man bothered him to no end. He had done research for years on how an average teenage girl could have connections to call for help from Iron Man when she was in peril. He had watched her for years, and he had kept a close eye on her friend, the ever-so-famous Stark boy. He had managed to figure out after a little while that they were dating and he was Iron Man.

Then he decided that he could use that against her. He planned to make her connection to Iron Man the death of her. He had a plan. And he was sure it was to be the death of her.

The kidnapping was just a minor beginning phase of the plan. That was just to show Iron Man that he meant business; it was only to show them that he was back and he was going to finish what he had started years ago—even if they didn't know that. As long as Stark was concerned that he was back, the plan had already gone underway.

And now it was time for the second, and more important phase of the plan.

Another important part of kidnapping young Potts was so he could secretively snap something on the back of his neck that would allow for the rest of the plan to go smoothly.

Fix went to his technologically advanced desk where a remote with a single red button resided. He picked up the remote and pressed the button, chuckling menacingly.

~…~

Tony, who had been sitting at his desk doing work, suddenly looked up. Rhodey was across the room doing Tony's fired assistant's work, and he was curious to Tony's behavior.

"Everything, uhh, okay Tony?" Rhodey asked. He noticed something way different in Tony's eyes. Something had changed. He didn't seem like his usual self, he seemed like suddenly his heroic posture had changed to that of something rather opposite than that. Rhodey was worried. Tony's eyes didn't glow with heroism and a sense of protection and strength, but instead something like he was hiding the fact that he was going evil.

"Yes, James, everything is fine." Tony said oddly, turning back to his work. Rhodey shrugged it off for now, but he was going to keep a close eye on Tony now.

After work, Rhodey expected Tony to do what he usually did every day—hop in his sports car and go home to work some more. But this time he didn't turn towards his city home, but instead goes the complete opposite way.

"Uh, hey Tony, house is the other way, remember?" He asked over the phone.

"Yes, James, I know. I have…other things to do." Tony spoke almost robotically.

"Seriously, dude, is everything okay?" Rhodey asked.

"I promise you, everything is fine. Oh, and by the way, don't try using the War Machine armor for a little while, I'm going to…make a couple changes to it." Tony added.

Tony didn't desire to add on to War Machine anymore. He said that was a past project, one done out of a period of anger during his teen years when he went crazy making armors. The only armor he bothered updating was the mach 2 armor.

Something was definitely wrong.

**Well for now that's all for this chapter. I hope the point of the chapter has gotten across to you, and I hope these random tidbits have connected in your mind. If not, think it over and if you still don't get it then message me and I'll be glad to explain. I feel like the random parts of the chapter don't connect so well in some places…review?**


	9. Things Escalate

"I still don't know why you're hung up on killing some stupid teenager. That was at least four or five years ago, Fix. We have more important things to do." Whiplash inquired as he controlled Iron Man's armor via A.I.M.'s controller disks and a high-tech outside source remote that he created for them in place of the helmet that The Controller had used.

"Because in all the years I've been in this business, no one has gotten away from me, _especially _a teenager. If I'm going to experience my first failure, it most definitely will not be on a teenager."

"Well then what makes her so hard to kill?" Whiplash asked.

"Her connection to Iron Man is too strong for her to go unprotected. She knows him all too well and can call on his assistance whenever she needs it. And Iron Man isn't the easiest enemy to defeat." Fix explained. Whiplash just stayed quiet. He knew that if he said anything further he'd be pushing it. Fix was working, and when he was in the action then he should not be disturbed; unless he wanted him to lose, which he didn't.

"_The plan is simple, really," Fix began. We will use her strongest ally against her. If the only thing getting in the way of her and death is Iron Man, then we shall use Iron Man against her. You will go out and retrieve the controller disks from A.I.M. and bring them to me so I can make a new control for them, like that fool Controller got destroyed. Once I am able to control them, you will kidnap the girl and bring her to me. Of course, this will bring Iron Man to us to retrieve her. Once we have Iron Man, you will attach the controller disk onto the back of his neck and from there I will activate it. From there we will use Iron Man to commence the demise of the one who got away," _

The plan ran through Whiplash's head again and again. He ran through each step over and over, and made sure he hadn't made any mistakes. He had done each step flawlessly.

They would get this one, the one who got away.

~…~

Instead of going home directly from work like he usually did, Tony headed to the very edge of the city to the harbor and parked his car at one of the ports where cruise ships came and left. He stepped out of the car, flinging his black backpack over his shoulders and pressed the center button, thus triggering his red-and-gold armor to surround him like a shell and engulf him. Once it did so, he took off out over the ocean, boosting his thrusters to full energy so he could get over the largest ocean as quick as he could so there was no delay.

"Tony, where are you even going? What's up with you today? I don't see your car anywhere and I don't see you anywhere! Is this an Iron Man thing?" Rhodey asked over the phone.

"I must not let the boss down," Tony responded. "I must not disappoint him." And Tony hung up.

Rhodey was at a maximum level of confusion and by now he knew that this was no longer the Tony he had known his whole life, and he knew that there was no real motive for him to just all the sudden turn evil.

Whatever it was, something was very, very wrong.

~…~

"We're going to make him beg on his knees for forgiveness. He has to come crawling to you on his knees, kissing your feet, begging you in tears to take him back because you want to hear him say he can't live without you. And how are we going to do this, you ask? Each time he asks you to forgive him, you say no because he has to show you just how truly sorry he is. When you believe him enough, you'll accept his apology." Jade plotted, laughing.

"We're going to make him suffer like he has made you suffer! Mwahahaha!" Pepper absorbed the plan into her brain, appreciating Jade's enthusiasm, knowing that her friend has possibly gone insane. Tony e-mailed, texted and called at least once a day asking for forgiveness, but it was just that: asking. She didn't want him to ask her permission to love him again, she wanted him to beg for her because he's showing just how much she means to him. Words wouldn't do by now.

As if on cue, Pepper picked up a text message from Tony—but not his usual 'come on, I'm really sorry.' Text. This time it was different. There wasn't one single hint of him asking her to forgive him. Pepper was perplexed and confused when she read his warning printed on the screen of her phone:

_You'd better watch your back because Fix is coming to finish what he started six years ago. _

"What's it say?" Jade asked, waiting for Pepper to tell her that he was saying he's sorry and she was saying prove it.

"That's…that's not right. That's not good." Pepper said aloud.

"What? What's wrong?" Jade asked, confused and curious now. Pepper showed her the message. Jade was confused.

"I thought he didn't know where you are." Jade asked.

"I guess he found out." Pepper dialed Rhodey's number. He picked up a moment later, confused on why his long-gone redheaded friend was calling him.

"Pepper? You haven't called in a while, is something wrong?" He asked.

"Yeah. Tony sent me a text a moment ago warning me to watch out for Fix. I think something's wrong with Tony."

"Tell me about it. He's been acting really strange ever since Whiplash kidnapped you. He's even taken up calling me 'James', and you know that only my parents call me that. I'm doing some investigating now, except Tony's not home and I don't know where he went after work today. He just went off in the complete opposite direction.

Before Pepper could respond, she heard a crash from the front door of their college campus apartment and rushed around the corner to see that Iron Man had burst down their door—and the look in his eyes were _not _friendly.

"Uuh, Rhodey I think I found him…" She said, her voice drowned in fear.

"What? How? Where?" But Pepper didn't hear his questions, as her phone fell to the ground as Tony fired up his repulsor and shot it at Pepper. Rhodey rushed to England as quickly as he could as the last thing he heard from the other end of the phone was a shrill, high-pitched scream in terror.

***Pulls the trigger* Bam! I shot myself for you for ending the chapter here. ANDDD the chapter was real short. I'm working on that. I know, hate me for it. But can you blame me for wanting you to come back next chapter? Now you have to! Mwahahahah! *evil grin* review! **


	10. Coming To An End

Before the repulsor could hit her, Jade quickly pushed Pepper out of the way and ducked. The beam ended up hitting the wall and burned the spot it had hit. Pepper watched the round burn mark in terror.

"Tony, what the heck? You nearly killed me!" Pepper shouted out of fear.

"That's the idea." Iron Man responded, moving in closer to her. Pepper backed to the wall behind her, suddenly cornered by a big, metal, angry, raging-hormone teenager.

"Now To…Iron Man, I know you're upset that I'm still mad at you, but violence never solved anything…" Pepper said in fear. She knew the statement wouldn't do any good. She was speaking out of sheer terror for her life.

"Uhh, Pepper I think you forgot to mention that your boyfriend is a tall metal freak!" Jade added from her position watching her roommate and friend getting trapped to her doom.

"Well call me crazy, Jade, but he didn't really want anyone to know!" As Pepper spoke, Tony flung an armored fist at her, causing Pepper to duck and Tony to leave a hole in the wall.

"Great, now we're going to have to call a carpenter." Pepper said as she to Jade, finally escaping Tony's corner trap. Pepper was about to be hit by another repuslor when War Machine came bursting in, blocking the shot.

"You know, we have a door!" Pepper exclaimed.

"Pepper, run! I can handle this!" Rhodey exclaimed in the War Machine armor. Pepper grabbed Jade's hand, knowing that by this point she was surely frozen in fear.

"Uh, Pepper I'm a little confused! Why are there two metal guys in our apartment and why does one of them want us dead?" Jade asked as they ran far from their college apartment.

"It's kind of a long story that I don't have time to explain right now! Long story short, the tall red guy is my ex Tony and the guy who just busted in and saved our butts is our other friend James Rhodes. Normally they're both good but for some reason Tony's gone bonkers and now he wants me dead and I don't know why!" Pepper exclaimed.

"Well can we, you know, not die? I still have more living planned in my future!"

"Yes, Jade, I'll protect us! Ugh, this never would've been an issue if Tony had just made me a stinkin' armor!" Pepper exclaimed out of irritation.

"_What?"_

They finally stopped running and hid in an old, abandoned building that they had hoped they wouldn't be found in. Too bad they were wrong about that.

Only after a minute of trying to catch their breath, Iron Man busted in, aiming his repulsors at them.

"You can run, but you can't hide, Patricia. I always know where you are." He laughed.

"Too bad for you if you find me I'm always going to put up a fight. Gee, Tony, I thought for sure you'd remember that." Pepper said flirtily, suddenly having hatched a plan. She grabbed Jade by the arm and ran once more, as War Machine continued to fight off Tony.

"What are we doing?" Jade asked as Pepper pulled her to a corner quickly.

"Look, I have an idea. Tony's obviously been taken over by someone, so we need to try to get to the real Tony underneath." Pepper explained.

"There's only one problem with that," Jade said as she panted, trying to catch her breath. "I don't know anything about him!"

"Don't worry, I'll tell you what to do. Let's go!" Pepper said, running from the hole in the wall that Iron Man's fist had just made. _The real question is, who's controlling him?_ Pepper thought. She knew she had to get to Rhodey.

"Oh Tony, I can't believe you're trying to finish me off! I thought we had fun together in our high school days!" Pepper yelled back. She whispered a direction to Jade.

"And Pepper tells me that I'm way smarter than you," Jade yelled back. Pepper snickered to herself. She knew almost nothing ticked him off more than someone saying they were smarter than him when he knew they most certainly were not.

"Shut up! She is not!" Tony blurted. Pepper chuckled at the comment.

"Hey Tony, you wanna come over tonight for some fun? Oh, that's right, sorry, you went evil. Never mind!" Pepper yelled. Tony put his hands to his ears in a failing attempt to block out what she was saying; obviously it wasn't working.

Fix, back in the states, watched the display through his computer monitors. He knew what the girl was trying to do, but he wouldn't let it work.

"Do I need to go over there and…finish the job?" Whiplash asked.

"No. Give our new assistant a chance. Maybe he will actually annihilate the girl." Fix answered. Whiplash shrugged and watched the monitors more.

After a while more of Pepper and Jade's taunting and Tony's growing anger, Pepper could see that her attempts weren't working. She wasn't really getting to him this way, the anger produced by the real Tony was just fueling whatever was controlling him.

War Machine was trying his best, too, but every time he came close, Iron Man just brushed him off his shoulder like a crumb.

"Jade, split up!" Pepper commanded as they came to a fork in the road (that meaning as they were running and hiding in intervals, they came to where there was an obstacle in their way). Jade went one way and Pepper went the other. Iron Man quickly followed Pepper.

Pepper knew that Tony was going to catch them more so sooner than later, and she didn't want Jade to get hurt in the process; so she split them up. Jade would remain unharmed and Pepper would get what seemed like what Tony had set out to accomplish.

Iron Man managed to corner her once more. Pepper sunk to her knees in the corner and pulled her knees close to her, hugging them in fear. She had been in life-or-death situations before, but never with the boy she loved and who she always knew as a good person and furthermore a hero. She had never seen him looming so evilly or glaring down at her so madly.

"I'm going to finish you off once and for all just like I couldn't years ago, miss Potts." Tony said. Pepper knew then just who was controlling Tony.

"Fix? _He's _behind all this?" Pepper whispered to herself as she looked up at Iron Man's tall figure standing over her. She could feel the wetness forming in her eyes

"Tony…please, you don't want to hurt me. It's not you doing any of this, Fix is controlling you. Think, and think hard. You and I both know you'd never lay a finger on me if it meant hurting me, and you'd risk anything to save me. I know you're fighting back somewhere deep inside, and I know that you need to keep fighting back, fight harder! Because I don't want to get killed today and I know you're not in the mood to be a murderer. So please, find that big heart I know you have, because I need you a lot, especially right now!" Pepper cried. Having said this, Iron Man was frozen in his spot. He didn't speak a word or move a muscle; just stood there.

~…~

In all the chaos, War Machine saw Pepper and Jade separate and went the direction that Jade went and began searching for her. In the chaos he didn't know which way he should've gone, so he went a random direction; which is why he didn't go Pepper's way and try and defend her against Tony.

He looked around the small town carefully in every crevice and alleyway for any signs of Jade. He flew overhead to get a bird's eye view and after a few minutes of searching, he found her hiding in a department store that sold hats and clothes, trying stuff on as to try and disguise herself.

"Uuh, Pepper's friend…I don't know your name…are you okay?" Rhodey asked. Jade set down the hat and sunglasses and poked her head out the door. When she saw War Machine, she curled back a little.

"You're not being controlled by some evil guy, are you?" She asked quietly. Rhodey chuckled.

"No. Now if you'd like, I kind of wanted to go stop the guy who is." Rhodey answered, holding out his hand. Jade took it and they went to find Tony and Pepper together.

~…~

Once War Machine and Jade found Iron Man and Pepper, they were curious to see Iron Man completely still and Pepper cowering in fear on the ground.

"Is, uh, everything okay?" Rhodey asked.

"I-I don't know, he's been like this for a few minutes…" Pepper said, not taking her eyes off of Tony. Rhodey could see that she was truly scared.

Suddenly, something fell out of Iron Man's armor that looked like Fix had stolen technology from A.I.M., made it more advanced and applied it to the back of Tony's neck. With the device dropping from the back of his neck, Tony fell to his knees, feeling a strong headache coming on. Pepper curled back in fear for a moment, then went to console the now fallen Iron Man.

"Tony, are you okay? Is it you or still Fix?" Pepper asked, placing her hand on his arm.

"I feel like an anvil just dropped on my head," Tony answered. "Pepper, are you okay?" By this statement, Rhodey and Jade knew Tony was back to normal. They bent down on their knees and helped him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine…we're all fine…but more importantly, what happened?" Pepper responded.

"I-I don't know. I was in my lab one minute and the next minute I wanted to kill you. Turns out it was Fix, out to 'finish what he started a few years ago'. " Tony explained, holding his hand to his head. Pepper lead him out of the alley that she had ran into and they started on their way to Pepper's and Jade's apartment, Rhodey and Jade going ahead of them so they could call their insurance company and a carpenter, and the university so they could help them with the issue, since it was their apartment building. Tony seemed to be wobbling as he walked, as if he was dizzy or forming a concussion or something perhaps a bit more serious.

"Tony, are you sure you're okay?" Pepper asked. Tony nodded in response, afraid of what would come out of his mouth if he spoke.

Tony stopped Pepper in front of the knocked-down door of their apartment, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Pepper, forget me for now. I need to know that you're completely okay. I don't care if you still hate me, I just want to know that on the inside and out you're completely and one-hundred percent okay. It's my only request."

In that moment, Pepper looked into Tony's eyes when he opened the face plate and studied their expression. She saw the utmost sincerity in his eyes, and they weren't about to leave. She saw in his eyes that he would do virtually anything to make sure that she was safe and sound in every way possible, no matter what would happen to him.

Pepper was silent for a short while as she thought about the look in his eyes and his actions.

"I love you," She said, finally.

"What?"

"You heard me. I love you." Pepper said again, this time forming a smile. Tony just stared at her for a moment, forming a smile of his own and eventually planting his lips on hers. Their eyes slipped closed in a moment of perfection that they both knew they had missed this in the four years they were apart.

Upon separation, Tony asked again, "Seriously, are you okay?" He asked. Pepper giggled.

"Yes, Tony, I'm fine." She said, wrapping her hand in his. "as long as I'm with you."

**Don't worry, this isn't the end…I still have a few things to take care of next chapter. So review?**


	11. Final Ends

Tony took Pepper back to her apartment so she could help Jade call people who could fix the apartment's front entrance. Jade had already called the dean to ask for advice on what to do; she was just left to contact a trustworthy contractor. The dean had explained that as long as they called the contractor, the university would pay the insurance or the bill, since the damage done hadn't been through any fault of their own.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back to the city with me, at least to assure your dad that you're okay?" Tony asked.

"I want to, but I don't think I can take the time off. Besides, I don't know if the government considers it safe enough yet to let me stay there again." Pepper responded.

"Alright…are you sure you want me to go back? I can always stay with you as long as you need." Tony offered.

"No, Tony, I'm okay. If I need you I'll Skype you or something. Jade and I can probably handle it for now." Pepper explained.

"Are you sure that you're sure?"

"Yes, Tony, I'm definitely sure that I'm sure that I'm sure. And if you ask me one more time if I'm sure, I'm just going to make you leave." Pepper explained, sticking a warning on the end before Tony could say anything more.

"Alright, then, I guess I have to get going back. Lots of work to do…I'll call you, okay?" Tony began the farewells and they said their goodbyes for a few more minutes; that mostly meaning their words turned into kisses very quickly. Jade had to clear her throat very loudly and obnoxiously to get Pepper off of Tony. Rhodey and Tony just began their journey back to the city.

"I kinda feel bad that he has to leave so suddenly," Jade said.

"Yeah, that's what I get for falling in love with an important businessman…" Pepper sighed. They continued their search the phone book for a contractor.

~…~

Back in New York, Tony had just landed on top of the Stark building when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his side and he went flying back. When he stood, he found Whiplash looming, waiting for Tony to stand so he could strike again. Rhodey had gone to put War Machine in the armory and back home for some rest; Tony was on his own.

"What, you two aren't done yet? You haven't realized that that was four, five years ago even, and by now it has little to no effect on any of us? We've forgotten the whole incident; it's just a funny incident and memory by now. Revenge really isn't necessary." Tony said tiredly. He really just didn't want to deal with such a thing right now.

"Tell that to my boss. But for now, this will be fun." Whiplash responded.

"Yeah, for one of us…" Tony mumbled. Keeping in mind that they probably knew his secret identity, he knew he needed to stop them. Them knowing Pepper's secret location was enough to anger Tony, because he knew that they could hurt her and he couldn't do anything about it. He knew he had to stop them, for his loved ones' sakes.

Whiplash thrust his dangerously electrified chains at Iron Man; they wrapped around his abdomen area, but he ripped them off and they fell to the ground. Tony fired his repulsors at Whiplash, which delayed the villain momentarily. After a brief pause Whiplash shot a chain which broke into tiny, individual bombs that were aimed to pierce Tony's armor, but Tony deflected them with his force field.

The tiny bombs hit Whiplash and exploded; yet this still did not stop him. Tony aimed his shoulder missiles at Whiplash and fired them, sending Whiplash spiraling to the ground, but after a minute or two he shook it off and lashed his whips at Iron Man. Iron Man stopped them by catching them in his hands and spun Whiplash around, then let go, sending Whiplash into a building.

Whiplash did not stir for a little bit but then shook it off once more and flew up on his flying saw blade, by now aiming to just push Iron Man around. He threw out his hands and grabbed Iron Man by the neck, causing Iron Man to grab Whiplash's arms, trying to push him away. After a moment of struggling Tony finally threw Whiplash into a building.

This went on for a while, the effect-less back and forth punching and repulsors and whips, until finally Tony gained the upper hand on Whiplash. He had managed to weaken him significantly throughout the dispute, and had him pinned to the wall of a building.

"Where is Fix?" Iron Man demanded.

"I won't tell you!"

"I have sonic disrupters and a flame thrower adapted into this armor. And that's the least of it. I'm not afraid to finish the job if I have to. Tell me where Fix is!" Tony demanded.

"Fine, I'll tell you! His headquarters are in an abandoned warehouse on 4th street!" Whiplash explained. Iron Man dropped Whiplash to the ground far below, where S.H.E.I.L.D. was waiting to arrest him and find Fix so he could be arrested as well.

~…~

As Tony was landing in the armory, exhausted, he answered a call on his phone from Rhodey.

"I heard on the news you were stuck in a battle with Whiplash, you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I managed to get him to spill Fix's location and by now they're both in S.H.E.I.L.D. custody." Tony explained.

"Good. I'm gonna go back to my nap." Rhodey hung up. Tony tiredly stumbled out of the armory and drove home to his house (he had bought out the house that he and his father had lived in a half a year after graduating from high school and taking over Stark International. The time in between he had an apartment, but he had slowly realized that he had missed their home.) He threw his car keys in his key bowl, and when he walked into his living room to sit down on his couch, Pepper was already standing there.

"Pepper? What in the—how did you get here?" Tony asked, surprised.

"It only took me a few minutes after you left for me to realize that I can't bear to be far away from you." Pepper explained.

"But what about school? You need to finish college?" Tony asked.

"Jade and I were given a few days away from our studies to compensate with the damages done to our apartment. In the meantime I decided to meet you back in New York because I miss you." Pepper explained. Tony shrugged, wrapped his arm around Pepper's shoulders, then proceeding to plop himself on the couch, taking Pepper with him. Pepper nuzzled into Tony's chest and together they drifted off to sleep.

In their minds, the perfect happily ever after.

**Well, there's our lovely ending. Took me long enough, right? Lol :3 well happy New Years to you all and I hope you have a good holiday (: P.S. I'll update my other stories some time tomorrow. Review?**


	12. Wrapping It Up

After the events of Whiplash and Mr. Fix's final return, Pepper finished her last semester at Oxford University and returned to the United States once it was deemed safe for her to go back.

Tony and Pepper's four years apart and their experience towards the end made them realize that they never wanted to part again, so instead of finding her own apartment, she just moved in with Tony. It wasn't until closer to Christmas that year that Tony finally sealed the deal and asked Pepper to marry him, Pepper of course, saying yes. After all, how could she resist?

Their lives could go on the way they preferred because Mr. Fix, after being held for a half a year in S.H.E.I.L.D. custody, found a way to break out and reconnect with his favorite assassin, Whiplash, but was caught not too long after the whole fiasco and they decided after a painfully long court trial, the best option for Mr. Fix (which was hard to decide, considering he knew so much about technology and he could always reverse anything they did to him tech wise) was to send him somewhere where they were sure he'd be confined and…as the court judge explained it, treated for his negative personality. But in simple terms it meant that they were going to top-secretly brainwash him. He wouldn't remember a thing from his life. Complete amnesia. It was…for the best. No, unfortunately, Fix had no say in anything, nor did Whiplash. I'd like to have said he did, believe me, but that's just not the way it works.

So in the end, everything worked out for everyone, relatively.

In the end, and in different ways, everyone seemed happy.

**Cheesy and weird and short, I know, but I felt like I had to wrap up the story. Soo that's what this is. I **_**hope **_**you enjoyed the story, but I can't guarantee I'm reaching everyone's favorites in a story. Review?**


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